Highway robber gang busted, 7 arrested in Odisha

Jajpur (Odisha): With the arrest of seven persons, police today claimed to have busted a gang of highway robbers who used to intercept trucks at isolated locations and snatched valuables from truckers at gun point.

Police said they also seized four motor bikes, two country made revolvers, six mobile phones and ready cash from their possession.

Chandikhole police busted the gang after a truck driver complained in the wee hours on Friday that his cash, mobile phone and other valuables were snatched by a group of robbers at gun point after intercepting his vehicle near a cinema hall in Chandikhole on National Highway no-5 on Thursday night.

Acting on the complaint, police arrested gang leader Jogia on Friday night, who during interrogation, confessed to his crime and revealed the name of the gang members. Based upon his revelation, the police arrested six others after raiding different locations of their hide out. The gang revealed that they had committed at least 42 crimes in all the highways passing through Jajpur district.

According to Jajpur district Superintendent of Police, Deepak Kumar, the modus operandi of the gang was that they only targeted trucks from outside not registered with local RTO.

They used to intercept the trucks at an isolated location and snatched their valuables at gun point, Kumar said.

So far, they have admitted to having looted around 42 trucks along three highways passing through Jajpur district in a couple of months, he said.

The gang was mainly operating along three highways including national highway no-5, in Balichandrapur, Barachana, Tangi, Jenapur, Dharmasala, Chandikhole and Jakhapura police station areas for the last couple of months, he said.

A local truck driver who was robbed by the gang reported to the police following which the gang came into the police net.

All the accused charged under section 395 of PIC and 25 Indian Arms Act were forwarded to the court yesterday and later remanded to judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.